Tall fescue fertilization in transition zone

thegrassfactor said:

Gorgonzola17 said:

My buddy sent me the following article regarding tall fescue maintenance in North Carolina.

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/tall-fescue-lawn-maintenance-calendar

I have a question in regard to fertilization. It says not to fertilize after march 15th. Is that because of the hot humid summers?? Does that mean synthetic fertilizers only?? I want to put Milorganite down several times this year. Should I not be doing that??

Click to expand...

I follows this to a T one year on 3 lawns. They looked like complete and total garbage. @g-man nailed it on the head in regards to timing. Drop your rates significantly, up your frequency.

In fact, I've applied half the fert I normally have over the last 6 months, changed N sources, and my lawns are performing better than they ever have.

My view on fertilization is evolving rapidly. It's not the amount of N, it's the function of N.

Click to expand...

Grassfactor-

Watch your videos, cool to see you post here. When you say you drop your rates, how little N, like 1/3 or 1/2 lb of N at a time? And being in TN, when do you fertilize up to....late may? Mid June? Never?

Isn't "less N more frequently" what golf courses do with foliar applications of N?

Gorgonzola17 said:

thegrassfactor said:

Gorgonzola17 said:

My buddy sent me the following article regarding tall fescue maintenance in North Carolina.

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/tall-fescue-lawn-maintenance-calendar

I have a question in regard to fertilization. It says not to fertilize after march 15th. Is that because of the hot humid summers?? Does that mean synthetic fertilizers only?? I want to put Milorganite down several times this year. Should I not be doing that??

Click to expand...

I follows this to a T one year on 3 lawns. They looked like complete and total garbage. @g-man nailed it on the head in regards to timing. Drop your rates significantly, up your frequency.

In fact, I've applied half the fert I normally have over the last 6 months, changed N sources, and my lawns are performing better than they ever have.

My view on fertilization is evolving rapidly. It's not the amount of N, it's the function of N.

Click to expand...

@thegrassfactor Thanks for the recommendation. On Feb. 23rd I did a full application of Milorganite. What is your recommendation for Nitrogen fertilizer, and at what rate would you apply?? Also, how often do you think I should fertilize if I am only doing half rate apps??

Also, I got my soil test back the other day from Soil Savvy. Everything looked pretty good, except for my Potassium was very low. I am going to see if I can get some Sulfate of Potash today from one of our local fertilizer stores to help with that. My Nitrogen was a little low, but nothing too alarming. My phosphorus was off the charts. Should I be concerned about that??

Click to expand...

I think with the weird temperature shifts we've had your lawn looks normal. Are you sure you don't have something like kbg or zoysia in there, which will take longer to come out of dormancy?

I dropped a half lb of N a couple weeks ago, and it helps. It's probably too cool for milo to really be processed by the microherd at this time.

In terms of how often, depends on the rate of N and your total N goals. For example I plan to drop about a pound of N with UMAX in it. Already did a half lb and will do another in late April. OTOH if I was dropping pure urea I might have done 3x 1/3lb apps instead, spread out about 2-3 weeks since it's faster release. So consider the total N used and the type of N.